Case Studies

• An overview of the recommendations that may have particular pertinence to the education of pupils with SEND
• The interplay between Curriculum and Assessment, and wider factors, in shaping inclusive education
• How schools leaders might prepare now for the proposed changes ahead

This session will include:

– The government’s Relationship, Sex, Health Education curricular changes for September 2026

– Basing your curriculum and lessons around ‘key questions’

– Practical strategies for engaging lessons

– Using assessment well

– Supporting students with SEND

– Links to Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development and Citizenship

– Local context; working with pastoral and safeguarding leads 

The session will outline some of the key elements of developing character education in schools considering the Jubilee Centre’s model of Character Caught, Taught and Sought. Then using Character Taught as a vessel, we will investigate how core values can be embedded across the curriculum to impact on people, learning and community engagement.

This practical session, described as “training every teacher should be given each September,” will demonstrate 10 easy-to-implement ways to leverage AI tools. By drastically reducing repetitive tasks like differentiation, resource generation, and assessment, teachers can reclaim time. This allows educators to focus on high-impact teaching, and ensuring high standards for every pupil across the curriculum, particularly those with SEND. Teachers and Leaders will walk away with real, usable strategies to positively impact wellbeing and deliver equitable outcomes.  

This session will focus on the Department for Education’s work on developing media and financial literacy throughout the National Curriculum, an area of focus in the Curriculum and Assessment review. Helen McStravick will outline current priorities and approaches to strengthening pupils’ critical thinking, digital discernment, and practical financial skills across subjects.

Helen will also be looking to capture feedback from delegates on where the Department of Education are in refreshing the curriculum and ensuring media and financial literacy are embedded within it, giving delegates an opportunity to contribute their perspectives and shape next steps.

This session will aim to give practical examples of how mainstream schools can design and deliver a complementary curriculum that supports SEND pupils through holistic skill development and preparation for adulthood.

Danny will explore how schools can design, implement and track this type of curriculum within a mainstream setting and share concrete ideas of how this complementary curriculum will fit into the new Ofsted Framework on Inclusion, the recent DfE Curriculum and Assessment Review and their Preparation for Adulthood report. 

Inclusive teaching and learning strategies are part of the answer to ensuring that education is equitable and equal for all.  This session will explain why teaching to the top is vital for our children, outline what adaptive teaching is and showcase a variety of scaffolding strategies which support the learning of all students. Drawing upon key research, the session will outline practical adaptive teaching and scaffolding techniques supported by examples and common pitfalls.

The Commission into Countering Online Conspiracies in Schools – the largest study of its kind in English schools – will share findings from its extensive research with young people, school staff and parents across the country into the issue of online conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation.

The session will explore how conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation are showing up in classrooms, how they are shaping pupils’ beliefs and behaviour, and the ways in which teachers and school leaders are addressing this challenge. It will conclude with Pip Sanderson, Director of Teacher Development at the National Institute of Teaching and Head of the Centre for Digital Information Literacy in Schools (CDILS), outlining the Centre’s emerging work and support for schools.

In this session, Kathleen will share how the Voice 21 Oracy Schools Programme supported the recognition of the importance of oracy in November’s Curriculum and Assessment Review report and what this means for the future of oracy education. Kathleen will be joined by one of the schools from the Voice North East project who will share their approach to implementing oracy across the curriculum and the impact this is having on the school community.

Micro-randomised controlled trials (micro-RCTs) represent a new frontier in educational research, offering a way for teachers and schools to identify what works within their unique contexts. Rather than relying solely on large-scale, top-down studies, micro-RCTs empower educators to test interventions rapidly, gather reliable data, and make informed adjustments on the ground. In this session, we will trace the development of these in education and how a teacher-driven micro-RCT approach fits into the educational evaluation landscape. We will showcase our collaboration with the North East Combined Authority and local schools, where teachers are running micro-RCTs to refine interventions, improve pedagogy, and foster evidence-informed decision-making. By highlighting the potential of these small but rigorous experiments, attendees will gain a clear blueprint for adopting micro-RCTs in their own schools, ultimately creating a more responsive, impactful, and data-rich learning environment.

Designing a fully inclusive reading curriculum that was research led, and evidence informed. One which would reach right into the pedagogies practiced in mainstream, hospital and Special Educational Needs classrooms across the globe.

An introduction to a reading curriculum model that is research led and has evidence informed pedagogy built within its infrastructure. Our universal reading curriculum is built on three pillars of vocabulary instruction; fluency instruction; and comprehension stimulated by a rich and diverse literature spine to engage vulnerable and disadvantaged students.

The equity approach strives to address class barriers in schools, encouraging us to look at children not through a lens of deficit—what they lack—but through a lens of capacity—what strengths they bring. It focuses on removing obstacles to learning and acknowledging the class biases and barriers we create in schools. This includes replacing unhelpful labels such as ‘disadvantaged pupils’, removing cultural and material barriers, and nurturing mutually respectful relationships with parents. Equity best bets, based on syntheses of research and expert practitioner knowledge, offer teachers practical strategies to create a language, pedagogy, curriculum and partnership of equity.